March 28, 1997 - The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says an increase in fishing license fees is critical to maintaining quality fishing in the state. The DNR wants to add three dollars to the cost of a fishing license. Frank Snyder is co-founder of the Minnesota Sport Fishing Congress. He says anglers will support higher fees..if the DNR uses the money more efficiently.
April 3, 1997 - State Representative Todd Van Dellen wants to use slot machines to plug a loophole that would let the Twins break their Metrodome contract. The Plymouth Republican would allow slot machines at Canterbury Park, and would use about 21-million dollars of the money they bring in to buy around 800-thousand Twins tickets and cover some Twins operating losses. The Twins' contract says they can only leave the Metrodome before 2013 if they don't fill a certain number of seats or post losses for the '95 through '97 seasons. Van Dellen would also use some of the slot revenue to bring a hockey team to the Twin Cities and help cities change their property tax system. Twins officials say they're not interested in the proposal, to say the least. I asked Van Dellen what he makes of Twins President Jerry Bell's assertion that the Van Dellen plan would constitute inappropriate interference and would probably be illegal. | D-CART ITEM: 5057 | TIME: 3:21 | OUTCUE: "...THAT THEY SIGNED."
April 3, 1997 - A House Committee has withdrawn provisions of a bill that would tax monthly access fees to the Internet, following a veto threat by the Governor. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports.
April 3, 1997 - MPR’s Bob Collins reports that despite latest stadium bill being roundly disliked, it has been stalled…but not dead. By a single vote, the House Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Committee refused to refer bill to Taxes Committee.
April 3, 1997 - In a case with parallels to the recent Food Lion Supermarket suit against ABC's "Prime Time Live" program, a Twin Cities television station is being sued for using a hidden camera. WCCO sent one of its producers undercover with a hidden camera for a report on alledged abuses in a home for disabled adults. Like the Food Lion case, the suit centers on how reporters gathered the information--not the accuracy of the report. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
April 8, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on Governor Arne Carlson address to appeal for cool heads at Lake Mille Lacs. Rising tensions over imminent Ojibwe spearfishing and netting prompted the governor to make a statewide three-minute address asking for forbearance. Around Mille Lacs, lakeside residents responded to Carlson with a mixture of relief and doubt.
April 10, 1997 - MPR's Jon Gordon reports that there will be no spears or gillnets on Mille Lacs Lake, for now. A federal appeals court has refused to allow eight Ojibwe Bands, including six from Wisconsin, to spear and gillnet on Mille Lacs and other Minnesota lakes this spring. The move comes after landowners and some counties appealed a federal judge's order allowing the bands to begin fishing in the 12 county area of east-central Minnesota.
April 11, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio's Catherine Winter visits “Patzoldts' Lost Frontier" in Grand Rapids, the farthest north commercial maple syrup producer in the United States. A cold snap has halted maple syrup production around the state. Sap had started running in the maple trees, but when temperatures plunged, it stopped abruptly. In some cases, the sudden freeze may have damaged the equipment maple syrup producers use.
April 14, 1997 - It's all buttons and beeps on most elevators these days. Automation has replaced humans, but not everywhere. In St. Cloud, 70 year-old Ed Pick takes people to work in one of the last of its kind in Minnesota: a manually operated elevator. Pick talks with Minnesota Public Radio's Gretchen Lehmann about working a job where you can bring everyone along for the ride.
April 22, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports that the Minnesota legislature is considering a measure which changes how rights of way are managed. Utilities can run their cables and pipes under our roads because they're part of the right of way. Some city officials say the companies leave a mess when they're through. A compromise before the legislature gives cities more control over rights of way but leaves a major issue unsettled…rent.